


Damaged Trust

by YourDailyMemeDelivery



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Abigail Hobbs Dies, Betrayal, Character Study, Conflict, Conflicted Will Graham, Emotional Hurt, Gen, Hannibal Lecter is the Chesapeake Ripper, Hope, Hurt Will Graham, Loss of Trust, Love, M/M, No Dialogue, Pre-Relationship, Season 2, Trust Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-16 05:07:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29448267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YourDailyMemeDelivery/pseuds/YourDailyMemeDelivery
Summary: Hannibal Lecter is the Chesapeake Ripper.That wasn't what ultimately bothered Will. It was just how easily and seemingly carelessly Hannibal could break Will apart...
Relationships: Will Graham & Hannibal Lecter, Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter
Comments: 6
Kudos: 25





	Damaged Trust

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! This is my first fic in the fandom and I'm a little nervous about it so hope y'all like it. I apologize if Will is a little ooc in his thoughts but as I write more hopefully I can capture his character better. I like delving in deep into some characters and like exploring what makes them who they are. Anyways enjoy reading and hopefully I'll write more for Hannigram! :)

_ Hannibal is the Chesapeake Ripper. _

Funnily enough, knowing that fact didn’t bother him so much. It should bother him, it should be the number one reason why he was a part of the plan to apprehend Hannibal. It wasn’t though, not really. It was the betrayal that fueled Will, what kept him as a double agent between Jack and Hannibal. Gaining trust while he himself was being torn in two. Will didn’t really know who he was anymore, he didn’t want to accept who he was in the process of becoming. It was all because of Hannibal.

Who let his brain cook itself, induced his seizures, watched and manipulated before pumping their surrogate’s daughter’s ear into his stomach, effectively framing him which ended up with him imprisoned in the place he feared the most. 

Sure, Will was forced to see the darkness that lay within him, how his own forts were cracked and broken down by the trojan horse. By the first person he actually grew to like, grew to trust. A psychiatrist, an eccentric psychiatrist, who he merely had conversations with. Someone who actually saw Will for himself outside his reclusive and unstable appearance. Someone who wasn’t put off by Will and his empathy and one who wasn’t simply drawn to him for a research paper. 

_ It was the fact that now, in a way he did feel like a labrat. Was Hannibal genuine with his thoughts and feelings that Will managed to glimpse through his personsuit? Was he just a plaything as Hannibal, the master puppeteer, whispered in his ear and moved Will as he pleased. _

Will deep down knew the truth.

It didn’t do anything to make him feel less hurt and if anything it made him feel more. He still felt drawn to Hannibal, the one behind his cleverly crafted mask, but he felt like a wounded animal. One who wasn’t sure whether to run, lash out or to simply accept their fate. Will felt anger with a deep-seated betrayal, he wanted to lash out and strike Hannibal where it hurt worst, so they could be even. Where Hannibal could  _ understand _ how Will felt. A big black mess of gooey emotions that he tried to trudge through, where it even polluted the stream Will used to wade in. 

Will felt stuck, unstable, torn between two loyalties, ruled and then drained by his emotions. He didn’t know where he stood anymore, the ground beneath him unstable as well. It was a big turning point for Will who felt the strong obligation to do the right thing but wanted the other.

He just wasn’t sure where Will fell with those two choices. Go for the moral high ground or go where he felt at  _ home _ . Will just wasn’t sure if he trusted said  _ home. _

Will felt like he had been cracked right open with his insides exposed and oozing out, his true intentions unknown to both parties. Truth be told, Will didn’t know where his intentions were with Jack and Hannibal as well. He told himself lies to justify his own actions and lies he told to others. He had the comfort of his dogs and their wide trusting eyes and never ending love and that used to be enough. He loved his pack, they were family but now there was a more noticeable emptiness within him. One that came after being seen, that comes after finding someone who seems to accept you despite your shortcomings but then seems to toss you aside once your usefulness is done.

With Hannibal, it wasn’t quite so true, but Will with his empathy still couldn’t tell where his intentions truly lied. Well that was another lie, Will supposed, he had an inkling on Hannibal’s intentions but the actions he took to make Will see that for himself hurt him. Hannibal had been the only one Will had allowed him to be close too, Will had trusted him only for it to have backfired right into his face spectacularly, the trust between them broken into pieces.

Will was battling himself, his self imposed restrictions and morals for something he truly yearned for but couldn’t- wouldn’t- allow himself to have. Will Graham was a mess and so he was left to play his role of a lure. 

And holding onto those small pieces of shattered trust, Will allowed himself to hope as he called Hannibal and warned him about Jack. Walked into the lion’s den once more and found Hannibal and to his surprise Abigail. Only for it all to run red with blood, for the small pieces to shatter into dust once more with a slice that carved a smile into his stomach and a slice that drained the life out of Abigail. It was penance for Will’s betrayal of Hannibal and Will was left bereft once again. 

He felt like he was only being tugged in one direction, towards Hannibal. Trapped in a cycle that would always seem to wear Will down as he could never seem to do the right thing, or give himself the permission to do what he yearned for deep down. His feelings about Hannibal seemed to change but at the same time stay the same. He yearned for the man’s company and at the same time wished he had never met Hannibal Lecter. A time where he still had his forts, could simply live off the companionship of his dogs and could live without Hannibal Lecter.

_ Hannibal was the Chesapeake Ripper. _

That wasn’t what ultimately bothered Will. It was just how easily and seemingly carelessly Hannibal could break Will apart, cut him wide open and leave him shattered only to come back and piece him back together. Hard earned trust broken. Will would forgive Hannibal, his anger soon dissipating but his distrust would remain always. Will knew how he felt about Hannibal Lecter deep down, his heart following a different path than his mind, but despite how he may feel about the eccentric doctor, Will couldn’t find it in himself to trust him again.

And that's what hurt the most in the end.


End file.
